Art of cleansing wool.



' e. STAUNTON.

ART OF CLEANSING WOOL. APPLICATION FILED APR. 20. IBIZ RENEWED JUNE I5, 1916.

Ina/6222 2 ma Aha/M2.

Patented Jan. 30, 1917.

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GRAY s'rann'ron, or irnsnneoit," MICHIGAN.

new or ornaments WOOL.

Specification of Letters ]Patent. Pgfl gnt gdtllan, 3(1), ILQHPY,

' Application filed April 2%, 1912, Serial No. 692,141. Renewed .Tune 15, 1915, Ser-iaLNo. 103,867.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, GRAY STAUNTON, a citizen of the United .States, residing at Muskegon, in the county of Muskegon and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Art of Cleansing Wool, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the art of cleansing wool, and has for its general object to provide improved methods for the cleansing of wool to remove therefrom the grease and other foreign matter or impurities that must be extracted therefrom before it is ready for final utilization. I

It is well known to wool workers that some of the most beneficial qualities of wool arise from structural peculiarities of the fiber which are easily destroyed or diminishedby rough usage incident to washing and subsequent carding or combing of the wool. The surface of each fiber of wool presents a multitude of microscopic hooks or teeth, and in the length of the fiber are a great many undulations. To the presence of these serrations and undulations are due, to a large degree, the valuable qualities of the woolof uniformly taking a 'dye, and of interengaging readily to form yarn as well as other well known characteristics of the product. The same characteristics further make the wool peculiarly liable to .felt or mat in masses, so inter-engaged as to be diffieult of ,separation without breaking the fiber or the destruction of the serrations or undulations of the wool.

in cleansing the wool it has long been customary to treat thewool with some suitably strong detergent, such as a suitable soap, carbonate of soda, naphtha, or the like, and then to wash out with water the scouring agent and the matter freed from the wool by the scouring agent or the water. As commonly practised these methods have been ac complished by mechanical agitation of the wool in the scouring or washing bath with the result that the wool is more or less matted or felted, so that in the subsequent carding or combing of the wool the tearing apart of the fibers has an undue tendency to destroy the serrations and straightenout the undulations of the fiber.

One of the objects of my invention is to provide an improved method of cleansing wool, wherein the treatment of the wool, first witha detergent and then with a washing agent, may not unduly felt or mat the fiber, may leave the wool body in a fludy, light condition and wherein the action of the detergent and the water may be aided by the constant maintenance of the wool in loose, unmatted, readily-permeable condition. 1

In the practice of my invention 1 dis-' pose the wool mass, which is to be cleansed, in a receptacle having inlet and outlet openings, butotherwise sealed, the wool being retained in the receptacle by an appropriate strainer or the like, and I treat the wool while so positioned with a detergent and with water successively, causing the fluids to flow upwardly through the wool while the latter is maintained under a less than atmospheric pressure, as by drawing the cleansing fluids through the wool under the action of an exhauster or suction apparatus. In the practice of my invention different in the drawing l have illustrated an ap paratus with which the invention may be successfully practised.

In the drawing; Figure 1 is a schematic perspective view of a complete system; Fig.

forms of apparatus may be employed, but

2 is a sectional detail of the wool containing receptacle. Y 1

In the drawing A indicates an exhauster; B a receiving tank or reservoir; C a surface condenser; D and E receptacles which ll will term receivers; F a materials receptacle for the wool, G and H receptacles which-l will term supply receptacles, and l and J repre= sent heaters.

The exhauster may be any suitable form of, power-driven vacuum pump, and the reservoir B may be any suitable hollow receptacle of adequate size, while any practical form of condenser, preferably a surface condenser, may be employed at C. Each of the receptacles l) to ll is preferably constructed as shown in Fig. 2, comprising a- 'kettle-1ike body 5, equipped with a cover ceptacle, and each receptacle preferably has furtherlateral pipes 11 and 12 opening to the front and back thereof near the top; and a bottom opening 10 connected by a T- tively, thereby to form a by-pass with a as g ' to the remaining opening of cross coupling having valve 68, to the T 40 6G through either or both of bottom communication with the receptacle. Each of said pipes 11,12, 13 and 14 preferably has a controlling, valve indicated by a small character corresponding with the reference letter of the receptacle with the exponents 1, 2,. 3, or 4, as the case may be, as shown specifically in Fig. 1.

The materials container F is suitably equipped for the retention therein of the material to be treated, and to this end I have shown strainers 20 'and 21 located in the body of the receptacle connected by a bolt 22, the strainers leaving clearance spaces for the free circulation of the fluid treating medium above and below the material. For treatment of different specific materials different forms of retaining means may, however, be employed. In the con .struction shown, valved piping connections through receptacles G, F and D, condenser ,C and tank B to the exhauster A are provided by pipe 27,- having valve 28, connected through a T 29, pipe 30, and crossjoint 31 to the front pipell of receptacle G, from rear pipe 12,"'by pipe 32 having Te 33, 35 and 36 to thereceptacle F; thence by pipe 37 having cross connection 38 to receptacle D, thence by pipe 39 having T 7 40 to condenser C, thence by pipe 41 having 'valve 42 to cross coupling 43, having one leg connected by pipe 44, having valve45, to the top portion of the tank B, which has an exhaust connection 46 from its top through valve 47 and T 48 to'the exhaust pump A. The coupling 43 has another connection 49 through valve 50 to the T 48 in exhaust connection 46 beyond valve 47 and the tank B has a valved air inlet 51.

The supply receptacle H is arranged to be connected in the exhaust system last described in lieu of the receptacle G. The front pipe 11 of receptacle H has connection 52 through valve 53 with cross couphng 31, and the rear pipe 12 of said receptacle has connection 54, with the T 35 of pipe 32. Heater J has piping connections through valve 61 to the T 36. Receptacle E is arranged for connection in the exhaust svstem in lieu of or in parallel with receptacle D. Pipe 63 extends'from cross 38 to the front pipe 11 of receptacle E, the rear pipe 12 of'which has connection 64 through T 65 and valve 66 by pipe 67 43, the T 65 having connection by pipe 67, of pipe 39. pipe 35 may be drawn the receptacles D and E, and the material passing through either receptacle D or E may be passed through or around .the condenser 0. Crosscoupling 38 has a connection 70 having Thus, material from valve 71 with the T 72 to which T 33 is also connected by pipe 73 havingvalve 74.

The T 72 has its remaining connection by pipe 75 having valve 76 to a T 77 in a return pipe or general by-pass 78, which extends in one direction through valve 79 to the bottom of the reservoir or tank B, and in the other direction through valve 80 to T 81, one leg of which has piping connection 82 having valve 83, to the T 31 while the other leg has connection 84 to a T 85 in the inlet pipe 86 of a heater which has controlling its air opening a valve 87. The heater outlet pipe 88 has valve 89 and communicates with the T 29 in pipe 30. The by-pass 7073 gives a connection between the supply and receiving receptacles around the materials receptacle, and the return connection 78, through its branches to said by-pass and to the pipe 30 and the heater I gives the capability of connection of any individual one of the receptacles, or combinations thereof, reversely, to the exhauster.

It will be observed that in any of the receptacles flow of air or material may be caused to pass upwardly or downwardly therethrough in either direction, front or rear, by manipulation of the valves 1, 2, 3, and 4, appurtenant to the receptacle, accordingly as the valves 51, 45, 47 and 50 are adjusted to throw the exhauster ahead of or behind the receptacle. Also, any receptacle may be used as the starting point of flow of fluid, by the opening of its air valve and the closing of all valves in a direction away from the point of rarefaction. It will be observed that in the systematic arrangement any receptacle may be caused to deliver its fluid contents into any other receptacle of the system by the ciiect ofa single suction device, "and that heat may be applied to the material in transit through either of the supply receptacles, or directly'through the materials receptacle F by proper use of the heaters I and J.

In the practice of my invention with an apparatus as above described, the supply receptacle G may be filled with a suitable detergent, say naphtha, and the receptacle H maybe filled with water. By opening suitable valves, as 47, 45, 42, d", d, and f (all valves not mentioned being assumed to be closed) the wool containing receptacle F has a partial vacuum created therein and then the detergent liquid or vapor from tank G may be admitted thereto by opening valves g, g", and 7, using any one of said valves as a throttle to control the rate of flow, so that the detergent fluid is passed through the wool from bottom to top of the mass While the wool is maintained in unchanged position under a rarefied atmos phere. The directing of the fluid from bottom to top, especially in receptacles of the lit halogen g kind preferably used, and herein shown, make for better distribution of the fluid through all parts of the wool equally, and when a liquid is used as'is often the case, and as is always the case when washing the wool after the cleaning fluid has been passed through the wool a suliicient number of times, it can loe easily seen thatthe whole bodyof liquid will'thusrise higher and higher in the receptacle uniformly cleaning all parts of the wool, and that the tank F by providing an open path from the valve cl through the by-pass 70 'l3 or through the receptacle F to the tank G and thence to the eXhau'ster by the general Toy-pass 78. The liquid collected in tank B may also be returned to the receptacle Gr by opening Valve .51, andefiecting the return connections through pipes 78 and 82,

a detergent back and forth therethrough the valvesg and g and connections 73, 70, l), C, 43, 49, valve to the exhauster. Won the Wool is sufiiciently cleansed by a single passage of the liquid or by switching the supply of the detergent is cut ed and the water tank H is connected through the receptacle F and receiving tank E with the exhauster. Then by direct and reverse connections, as heretofore suggested, the water may be switched back and forth through the wool until it is thoroughly washed, all of these operations taking place preferably under such valve adjustment that the liquid flow is always upward through. the wool and while the wool is maintained stationary Without agitation and under a Vacuum condition. lhus the Wool is maintained light and fluffy, readily permeable by the fluid and practically unmatted. When thoroughly cleansed the Wool may be dried by hot air taken in through heater J, and the wool mass when finally removed is so fluffy, light and unmatted that the carding or comb ingprocess may be easily performed Without tearing the wool in such fashion as to destroy any undue amount of fiber,

or materially to affect the structural formation of the wool.

l-While l have herein described in somedetail a particular means of practice of my invention it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the apparatus. might be greatly simplified and the process carried on by diverse forms of apparatus without departure from my invention and within the scope of the appended claims.

What ll claim is: V

1. A process of cleansing wool which comprises confining the wool in a receptacle in such a manner that it shall be stationary during all subsequent steps, successively passing a cleansing fluid through said receptacle and the wool stationarily maintained therein from the bottom of said receptacle to the top thereof until said wool is cleansed, and thereafter successively passing through said receptacle and wool, still maintained stationary therein, a washing the top thereof.

2. A. process of cleansing'wool which consists in confining the wool in a receptacle in such a manner that it-shall remain stationary through all subsequent steps, successively passing a cleansing fluid through said' receptacle and contained wool from the bottom of the receptacle to the top thereof until the wool is cleansed, thereafter successively passing through said receptacle and wool, still maintained stationary therein, a washing fluid from the bottom to the top of said receptacle, and thereafter passing through said receptacle and the wool there in contained, still maintained stationary therein, a drying medium.

In testimony whereof I hereunto set my hand. in the presenceof two witnesses.

,enar s'rauurou.

In the presence of- Rosie Wnorr'rnn, DAN Loser.

'fluid from the bottom of said receptacle to 

